Arg, I had trouble getting through this. I'd read Charles Williams' Many Dimensions before and found it had more action and was more thought-provokingArg, I had trouble getting through this. I'd read Charles Williams' Many Dimensions before and found it had more action and was more thought-provoking than this one. War in Heaven shares some of the same elements in being a tale of a supernatural artifact that some people in England are fighting over, but a lot of it was too slow and too ambiguous to catch my interest.
For one thing, I appreciate Charles Williams' vagueness sometimes when it comes to the war going on around his characters in an unseen world--it suggests things just beyond our own reality that we're ultimately unable to reach in this life. Unfortunately, there was a little too much of that going on with the Holy Grail in this book (or Holy Graal as he spelled it--I guess it is a legitimate alternate spelling, but it took 2/3 of the book for me to get over saying "Gral" in my head). I didn't really understand what the power of the Grail was or how it could be used. This made the book sort of nonsensical as I didn't really understand what the threat was to the protagonists, much less the world.
The same went for the character of Adrian Rackstraw. Gregory Persimmons spoke of him as though he was either going to enjoy turning him evil somehow, or offer him as some sort of sacrifice, although it's never clear what kind.
There were too many other characters in the story too that cluttered things up. Some of them probably could have been combined and the book would have been a lot more interesting and a lot less confusing.
Anyway, I recommend Many Dimensions to those who didn't care for this book. According to another friend, All Hallows' Eve is Williams' best work, but I haven't read that one yet. I will probably still try to read all of his other novels someday since he was an Inklings member and I want to understand them better.
EDIT: I just saw that War in Heaven was Williams' first novel (it shows) and Many Dimensions was his second. All Hallows' Eve was his last. Maybe they get better as they go along? This makes me interested to possibly read them in the order they were published and find out.
Merged review:
Arg, I had trouble getting through this. I'd read Charles Williams' Many Dimensions before and found it had more action and was more thought-provoking than this one. War in Heaven shares some of the same elements in being a tale of a supernatural artifact that some people in England are fighting over, but a lot of it was too slow and too ambiguous to catch my interest.
For one thing, I appreciate Charles Williams' vagueness sometimes when it comes to the war going on around his characters in an unseen world--it suggests things just beyond our own reality that we're ultimately unable to reach in this life. Unfortunately, there was a little too much of that going on with the Holy Grail in this book (or Holy Graal as he spelled it--I guess it is a legitimate alternate spelling, but it took 2/3 of the book for me to get over saying "Gral" in my head). I didn't really understand what the power of the Grail was or how it could be used. This made the book sort of nonsensical as I didn't really understand what the threat was to the protagonists, much less the world.
The same went for the character of Adrian Rackstraw. Gregory Persimmons spoke of him as though he was either going to enjoy turning him evil somehow, or offer him as some sort of sacrifice, although it's never clear what kind.
There were too many other characters in the story too that cluttered things up. Some of them probably could have been combined and the book would have been a lot more interesting and a lot less confusing.
Anyway, I recommend Many Dimensions to those who didn't care for this book. According to another friend, All Hallows' Eve is Williams' best work, but I haven't read that one yet. I will probably still try to read all of his other novels someday since he was an Inklings member and I want to understand them better.
EDIT: I just saw that War in Heaven was Williams' first novel (it shows) and Many Dimensions was his second. All Hallows' Eve was his last. Maybe they get better as they go along? This makes me interested to possibly read them in the order they were published and find out....more
Absorbing story that reveals some of the far future of one of the characters in Stormlight Archive.
I understood what Sanderson was trying to do with tAbsorbing story that reveals some of the far future of one of the characters in Stormlight Archive.
I understood what Sanderson was trying to do with the pacing and it matched the theme of "always running" well, but a breakneck pace isn't my favorite style. He was able to fit in a good amount of character development for the way the story went, specifically with Nomad and Elegy. The main villain was a little more cookie-cutter than Sanderson's usual ones, though, and we didn't really learn as much about some of the other protagonists (i.e. Rebeke had some good character development, but we didn't learn much about her background, and we also didn't get much of a sense of personality from other minor characters like Zeal).
The tie-in to Threnody was pretty awesome--I haven't read the story from that planet yet that's in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection, so reading this as my first glimpse of the Threnodites was pretty cool.
I would really love to know how *ahem*Nomad*ahem* became both a Windrunner and a Skybreaker and how he walked away from his oaths. Hoping Wind and Truth may reveal some of that. I've pre-ordered it, so we'll see!...more
Great novella about the Forger Shai, who is tasked with recreating the emperor's soul via a complex "soul stamp" in exchange for her freedom. The themGreat novella about the Forger Shai, who is tasked with recreating the emperor's soul via a complex "soul stamp" in exchange for her freedom. The theme of wanting to see the result of her creation despite the danger to her resonated with me--the act of creating became more important to Shai than the situation she was in.
Since I read Elantris before reading this, I wondered where on the world of Sel this takes place. I had to look up where the culture of the Rose Empire is supposed to be--it has very limited overlap with anything from Elantris, so you can easily read them separately. The two magic systems from the stories both involve writing or carving shapes either in the air or in some material. I'm interested to find out more about how Sanderson conceptualizes the commonalities between magic on Sel....more
Elantris kept me turning pages. I thought it read very well for Sanderson's first published novel, although I think I read it was the third novel he wElantris kept me turning pages. I thought it read very well for Sanderson's first published novel, although I think I read it was the third novel he wrote(?) Anyway, it did not seem rough to me at all as far as pacing and it had well-drawn characters.
AonDor was a cool magic system and the mystery of why it wasn't working kept me interested in the story.
Some of the non-white cultures that Sanderson included were a little cringe-worthy. He's generally good at not stereotyping in his later books. I felt like in this book, though, Galladon was a little trope-y, although not so much as Shuden, whose culture seemed like a weird, over-the-top, mish-mash of East Asian stereotypes.
The miscommunications between Raoden and Sarene were also a little trope-y and I wanted a little more of that romance in the story. Oh well. Sanderson seemed hesitant to barely even touch on romance in his early books--later on he strikes a better balance.
Overall, an original fantasy well worth reading....more
I actually finished this quite a while ago, but forgot to update because I'm still in the middle of some other books too.
This supplement to the MistboI actually finished this quite a while ago, but forgot to update because I'm still in the middle of some other books too.
This supplement to the Mistborn series is definitely worth a read! It's one that's hard to explain too much about without giving everything away.
It follows one of the characters from Mistborn from the end of the first book through the third book. We get to see what was behind a number of events that happened in the main story and how some key things happened because of this. I haven't read any of the other Cosmere novels yet, but my husband said that it also adds more connections to the greater Cosmere.
An excellent addition and I'm glad Sanderson chose to publish it....more
While Wax and Wayne hunt down Trell's avatar, Marasi follows the clues to figure out what happened to The final installment of the Wax and Wayne saga.
While Wax and Wayne hunt down Trell's avatar, Marasi follows the clues to figure out what happened to the missing kidnapped people from the first book.
The discovery of the explosive power of combining Harmonium and Trellium overshadows all and echoes the development of nuclear weaponry in the real world.
In this installment, we start to get more and more glimpses of what is going on in the greater Cosmere.
The ending wrapped up nicely and, although there was some sacrifice involved, I didn't find it as traumatic to read as with the ending of the first Mistborn age. It fit the story, was foreshadowed well, and seemed less tragic overall to me.
Steris will remain one of my favorite characters--an inspiration for neurodiverse women everywhere!...more
Sanderon's setup really starts to get going in the third installment of the second Mistborn series.
The pacing was great in this book. I loved the humoSanderon's setup really starts to get going in the third installment of the second Mistborn series.
The pacing was great in this book. I loved the humor between Wayne and MeLaan and the development of Steris' character.
Very cool to begin to glimpse the world outside of the Elendel Basin.
I don't 100% follow everything about Identity and Investiture as related to the new technologies that Wax and his friends begin to discover in this book, but I felt like that was okay.
I love how methodical Sanderson is about his magic system and how well it's integrated into the second series. He got better since the first trilogy at not getting over-explainy, but I get the impression that if I wanted to think hard about the new technology in the third book, I would find it to be internally consistent and obeying the laws of physics.
But I don't want to think hard when I read fantasy, and for that I am also rewarded with copious shoot-outs, hints of romance, ancient mysteries, and keen observations of human behavior combined with waxing philosophical (no pun intended) about the Problem of Evil...
...oh wait, I guess I do like to think, but just about philosophy and not physics.
If you like to think about physics, though, it's got that too. :D...more
This one was a really hard one for me to get into, but it was still interesting to see how the characters developed.
I think middle books must be hard This one was a really hard one for me to get into, but it was still interesting to see how the characters developed.
I think middle books must be hard to write... Sanderson couldn't reveal too much about what was going to happen later, but I felt like I was too in the dark to really be hooked. Wax was led around by the nose for most of the book trying to figure out Paalm's motivation for destabilizing the city.
The big reveal at the end was something I did not see coming, though. Mind. Blown.
It took me a while to get into this one, and like the first Mistborn trilogy, I felt like the first book of this second part had an overly simplistic It took me a while to get into this one, and like the first Mistborn trilogy, I felt like the first book of this second part had an overly simplistic storyline.
I'm writing this after having just finished The Bands of Mourning, however, so I can say by now that it's definitely going somewhere mind-blowing that will reveal lots of secrets.
Even though I felt like this one was simple on the surface, though, I really enjoyed where Sanderson took the world of Scadriel as the known part of it developed in its technology. It had a steampunk meets old west meets Batman feel to it.
Miles Hundredlives made a pretty epic villain to open the story and I especially loved Marasi's discovery of how truly useful her Allomantic ability could be....more
The conclusion to this first trilogy in the series was a fantastic read.
So many things were explained and wrapped up--hemalurgy (I guessed about some The conclusion to this first trilogy in the series was a fantastic read.
So many things were explained and wrapped up--hemalurgy (I guessed about some characters, but others things I completely missed), the mist spirit, the nature of the relationship between Ruin and Preservation, the kandra's First Contract, and more.
I realized after reading this book that the first one was more complex than I gave it credit for. Yes, it was a straight hero's journey story, but Sanderson clearly knew where it was going and what the secrets were. My respect ratcheted up when I realized how much pre-planning must have gone into that first story.
My favorite characters by far were Spook and Sazed. Spook struggled with an internal desire to be noticed and to be important, but realized just in time that there was something slightly off about it (but at the same time... "Survivor of the Flames"... heck yeah!). Sazed's quest to find the perfect sense-making religion mirrored my own feelings at some points in my life--his conclusion that essentially you just have to have faith was a little dissatisfying in some ways, but in others was also a good reminder that faith in something is a conscious decision. Nobody is going to find absolute proof that one religion is truer than another--you have to go with what makes sense to you, even if sometimes that means leaning into imperfect traditions.
The twist about the Hero was masterful. I did not see it coming at all. The resolution about why the mist was killing certain people and why some got sicker than others also blew me away, along with the climax involving where--and what--the atium truly was.
It was great to see the struggle in Marsh's character, too. Things did not go the way that I predicted with him either.
Probably the only reason I don't give this book five stars is that I found the stakes of the story and how long and how close the world came to destruction to be really emotionally intense for me in a negative way. This kind of thing used to be exciting for me to read, but now for some reason it just feels heavy. Sanderson softened the fates of some of the characters with the idea of an afterlife where they were happy, yet I still found their sacrifices to be a downer (although one that made perfect narrative sense), and I had trouble not dwelling on violent deaths. It was still a great book, and I recognize that this kind of thing doesn't bother everyone.
Despite my personal trouble with violence in fiction lately, I'm still not feeling ready to switch to a diet of chick lit any time soon....more
In this wonderfully translated edition of Kawakami's work, two stories are placed together, both centering around the main character Natsuko Natsume, In this wonderfully translated edition of Kawakami's work, two stories are placed together, both centering around the main character Natsuko Natsume, a middle-aged writer living in Tokyo.
In the first story, Natsuko's sister Makiko comes to visit from their home town of Osaka with her daughter Midoriko in tow. Midoriko isn't talking to her mother for some unknown reason and only communicates through written messages. Makiko has become obsessed with getting breast implants and goes on and on about researching all of the clinics, etc. At the end of this story, we learn why Midoriko hasn't been talking to Makiko and she finds her voice again. I don't think Makiko ever did clearly go for the breast implants. This wasn't my favorite part of the book, but the translation was really beautiful and poetic. I could see that Makiko's desire for implants stemmed from anxiety about being middle-aged and that her livelihood as a bar hostess largely depended on her looks.
In the second part, the author explores Natsuko's desire for a child and the incompatibility with her asexuality that this presents. Natsuko begins exploring becoming a single mother via a sperm donor, but this is not something that's accessible to single moms in Japanese society. Natsuko also struggles with her lack of any truly close friends and witnesses how her female acquaintances deal with problems in their lives. Eventually her quest leads her to attend a group of children of sperm donors to find out what their experience has been like and whether she feels like she can justify continuing to pursue her dream. There she meets Jun Aizawa, who ends up becoming the closest friend to Natsuko that she's had in a long time. Maybe I should have expected the ending, but the author kept me going--I wasn't sure whether the story was building to a romantic trope conclusion or something else. I won't spoil it, but to me, the ending managed to be simultaneously tender, bizarre, sweet, and surprising.
As someone who thinks too much, processes through writing, *and* who spent a long time feeling the irrational longing for a child before I had one, I totally identified with Natsuko. It even gave me a lot more understanding for why a single mother would want to conceive a child via donation, although the thought of doing the baby phase alone is still horrifying and mind-boggling to me.
I loved the adventures and misadventures that Natsuko got into on her quest, particularly the episode of the "direct donor" (rofl).
I loved the philosophy the author got into of why one would bring a child into the world when there's a possibility (even a likelihood) that the child will suffer. I'm not sure any parent has a good answer for that, but Natsuko's reasoning resonated with me--that she just wanted to meet this new person. It was as though the person already existed, but she needed to meet them and know them. As parents, we *are* playing with fate, and I think it's valuable to acknowledge that, but also that preferring to roll the dice and hope they fall favorably is a valid choice.
The ending paragraphs of the book were so beautiful.
(view spoiler)[
Tears were streaming from my eyes, but what kind of tears were they? I felt something greater than the sum of all of my emotions welling up inside of me. A feeling that I couldn't name, though it still made me cry. I looked at the baby's face, tucking my chin to get a better look.
I saw her for the first time. She was unlike anyone that I had ever known. Unprecedented in my memory or my imagination. She was new to me. Her voice rang through her body, loud as anything. I called to her, speaking in a voice that no one else could hear. Where were you? You're here now. I watched her, this new baby girl, letting her cry into my breast.(hide spoiler)]...more
I had trouble getting into this book for a long time, and was super busy, so I didn't really get rolling with it until I got away on a trip to go to mI had trouble getting into this book for a long time, and was super busy, so I didn't really get rolling with it until I got away on a trip to go to my cousin's wedding in San Diego. Pretty sure I finished it right after I got back--can't quite remember.
Basically, though, although it was slow, it presented a lot of good questions and mysteries that kept it interesting.
The twist with the kandra was great.
I loved the theme throughout that how you present yourself is only a part of who you are. The clothes that you wear, the way that you carry yourself, can be a message to other people, but it can also influence how you feel about yourself--and yet it's not all of you. You can still have times when you feel unsure of yourself, but it's helpful not to dwell on it or project it. All of the lessons that Tindwyl taught Elend I think are helpful to anyone.
Vin also had a "heroine's journey" arc in this vein--she learned that she could enjoy being feminine in some ways and to accept that she wasn't just a killing machine. She also made some important decisions about why she was doing what she was doing--not just to protect Elend, but to serve the people.
Other information about the mist spirit, the Lord Ruler, etc. begins to be revealed in this book, but doesn't get fully explained until the final installment....more
All of my friends who have read this book, love this book.
My husband was no exception.
I liked it, but I'm sad to say I didn't love it.
I won't elaboratAll of my friends who have read this book, love this book.
My husband was no exception.
I liked it, but I'm sad to say I didn't love it.
I won't elaborate on the plot because it's probably easy to find anywhere.
Things that I did love:
-The magic system (and related action sequences). Sanderson's reputation for creating well thought-out, unique magic systems is well-deserved. There were almost too many details about it in the beginning--I could picture him gleefully rubbing his hands together as he explains the next ingenious thing about the system and as Vin learns the ropes. The less-useful metals were the most fun, like gold (I won't spoil what it does).
-The love story angle. I don't read romance novels, but I will freely admit that the promise of potential snogging will hook me. Sanderson manages to keep the main relationship G-rated, which actually slightly disappointed me, but it's his style. It had enough drama to be good, but not so much drama that I felt like the characters were actually bad for each other.
-The plot twists. There were some good ones toward the end. Some people I expected to die didn't, and some people I expected to survive... also didn't. It didn't devastate me because it actually made sense from a plot perspective.
-Lestibournes (a.k.a. Spook) and his dialect.
Things I didn't like as much:
-All of the planning. The main characters spend about 400 pages of the book planning what is going to happen, and in Vin's case, learning about her powers and the role she will play in this revolution. I really had a hard time getting into the book until events started rolling with Yeden's army. This was a big minus for me.
-Most of the elements of the story that *weren't* related to the magic system were very standard hero's journey fantasy fare. There's nothing wrong with that, but for me the worldbuilding and the plot for 1/3 of the book weren't interesting enough to overcome the other 2/3 of blandness.
-Although I remember Vin realizing what had happened the first time she killed someone, it didn't quite ring true to me that she would adjust to it so quickly. *Maybe* I could buy it since they live in such a brutal world and she's seen a lot, but I felt like the philosophical exploration of violence was at times too heavy-handed, at times not enough (i.e. Vin questions Kelsier's assertion that all nobles are bad and deserve to be killed, but she pretty quickly learns not to have a problem with killing in general, when killing's gotta be done).
-Minor thing, but I really wondered about the worldbuilding as far as what people eat. I remember they eat these kind of veggie wraps, but why can they even grow veggies when they barely have any sun? It's mentioned that in pre-Ascension times, there used to be flowers that would grow into fruit. Does that mean there's no fruit anymore? Is everyone a vegetarian? Do the nobility *eat the skaa*? Inquiring minds want to know....more
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